Dead but Dreaming
by Triple-Helix
Summary: Uryu Ishida and Nemu Kurotsuchi find themselves unlikely allies as they investigate an unusual situation far outside the walls of the Seireitei.  What they discover has drastic ramifications for both of them, as well as the rest of the Soul Society.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Bleach is not mine, the characters, names and related material all belong to Tite Kubo.

Rated T: violence, language, suggestive themes, cosmic horror from beyond the stars dripping in malice and steeped in pure nightmare.

Author's Note: This has been knocking around in my head lately, so I'm just gonna crank it out. This will be much shorter than The Shining Dark, non-AU, and rated T instead of M. Please enjoy.

Chapter 1

Soifon stood still as a statue at the treeline gazing out at the moonlit clearing. Across the wide meadow stood another stand of trees, so closely packed that even the light of the full moon could not penetrate its interwoven branches. While no light could filter in from above, the low orange-red light of a fire could be seen dancing just past the trunks of the trees below. She narrowed her eyes as she felt strange, staccato bursts of spirit energy rolling out of the forest across the meadow, in time with the flares of bonfire light. Straining, she could just make out words spoken in chorus, hoarse voices rising to chant in some harsh, alien language. The breeze shifted, thankfully ending the continual chant. Soifon stifled a shudder down her spine, it would not do to have the men see her unnerved.

"Orders, ma'am?"

"Surround and observe, do not engage. I want a report on whatever's going on in there in an hour," she said. A dozen black-clad shapes around her flickered and disappeared, streaking through the night and into the stand of trees she was intently focused on. She drew a small phone from within her own black clothing and flipped it open, pressing a single button on it and raising it to her ear.

"Twelfth Division, Operations," came the answer.

"Second Division in position, requesting remote status report," Soifon said, her voice low and hard.

"Yes Captain, right away," came the reply over the phone. "The signal remains unchanged in location, but has been spiking in power over the last twenty minutes. We're reading your team, they're moving into position around the signal. Ah, yeah we're getting a much better reading now, but the signal still doesn't match anything we have on record. Huh? What was that Akon?"

Soifon heard some commotion over the phone, people shouting and the rapid clicking of keys on computer terminals. "What's going on? Operations? Can you hear me?"

"We're reading some kind of energy surge, Captain Soifon, get your men out of there!"

Before she could bring the phone away from her ear, she felt a sickening wave of oily, disgusting spirit energy unlike any she'd ever felt before wash over her, the light in the forest sparking to a blinding ruby glare. It was unconscionable, a captain of the court guard squads frozen in place, held there by a sudden overwhelming amount of spiritual pressure, but Soifon found she couldn't move. Screams of terror and pain echoed across the meadow, mingled with inhuman, animalistic sounds of fury and triumph.

Gripping the hilt of her sword and drawing up her own spiritual pressure, she took a firm step forward, moving from the treeline only to blanch and falter before she could take another step. Beyond the trees, something was moving at the edges of her awareness, flickering through the shadows like the remnants of a nightmare just after waking. Though she could see nothing directly, and had never been one for flights of imagination, none-the-less she had the terrible impression of an enormous shape, the moonlight dappling off its hulking form and glinting from pitiless, sinister eyes.

"Captain? Captain Soifon?" yelled a voice through her phone.

"Yes, yes go ahead," she whispered back, her eyes still scanning the trees opposite the meadow. The red firelight was dying down, the sounds of the forest were silent and in the utter stillness her own voice seemed to thunder in her ears. Without realizing, she had taken a step back to conceal herself in the treeline again, and had placed another foot behind the first, intent on backing away from whatever force was moving through the forest across from her.

"Captain, we don't know what happened. The signal surged in power, we've lost contact with your team, they're not showing up on the monitors anymore. The signal is fading now, what's happened?"

"I... I don't know," Soifon admitted before firming up her voice, "Wait, I see something coming from the trees." A dark shape, nearly indistinguishable from the blackness of the forest, staggered from the shadows and into the meadow. Soifon drew her sword from behind her back, the metal ringing a clear note in the unearthly stillness. She dropped the phone to the ground at her feet, her eyes scanning the forest canopy behind the hunched and shambling figure, but could detect nothing anymore. Returning to the dark shape, she realized it was a man dressed in the patrol forces standard uniform. Breaking into a sprint, her footfalls silent even over the dry grass and windblown leaves of the meadow, she met him as he came stumbling halfway across.

"C-C-Captain S-Soifon," he stuttered, clutching at her sleeve, his other hand cradling something against his chest as he stared at her with wide, unblinking eyes. "H-h-help m-m-me..."

"Report, soldier," she ordered, looking back at the forest where he came. There was nothing. No movement, no light, and no more spiritual pressure. She looked back at the man kneeing before her, his head bowed and shoulders shaking with terror. "Report!"

Rather than speak, he gently lifted the object he held up to her. Held in his trembling hands was a tiny figurine, carved of some odd deep greenish stone and flecked with gold that shined even in the moonlight. In exquisite detail, it depicted some type of hideous monster, a grotesque, misshapen humanoid form hunched over and seated on a pedestal. Its elongated legs were drawn up, wickedly clawed hands resting atop its knees and a pair of stunted, malformed wings emerging from the figure's back, curving down to touch the pedestal. Most disturbing of all was the creature's head, akin to the that of an oversized, fleshy octopus, a mass of tentacles hanging from where a face would normally be.

Soifon tentatively reached out to touch the small object but recoiled immediately as another wave of nauseating spiritual pressure washed over her. Feeling like she would suffocate, she found the strength to grip the poor man at her feet and desperately drag him back towards the opposite forest. The stifling, disgusting feeling was lessening the further she moved until she was able to hoist the man and bear him back to where she dropped her phone.

"I'm returning to the Seireitei immediately. I have found a survivor of the original patrol expedition who may have important information," she looked askance at the man, leaning heavily against a tree, his hands still firmly enclosing the figurine. "I want a detailed report of that signal energy upon my arrival."

"Yes, yes of course Captain."

Soifon gently closed her phone and tucked it away, her eyes turning back to the forest on the other side of the meadow. Steeling herself, she took a deep breath, blew it out and took another before she finally tore her eyes away, lifted the patrolman over her thin shoulders, and immediately broke into flash step, moving as fast as she could away from that dark place.

* * *

Uryu Ishida leaned back from his desk and removed his glasses, setting them next to the book he had been reading before rubbing his eyes and stretching his back. In the empty silence of his father's cavernous manor house, he very clearly heard the pops in his joints as he flexed his fingers and yawned. He placed his glasses back into position, pushing them up his nose for good measure, before standing and arranging his notes and papers for school. Shutting the book, he carefully returned everything to its proper place in his school bag, then turned and left his study, heading for the kitchen down the hall.

He didn't know why he bothered to try to be quiet, despite the exceptionally late hour. He lived in his own private wing of the house. There wasn't anyone around to hear him even if he blasted his radio or television as loud as he could. Not that he would, of course, especially as he was studying for university admissions. He caught sight of himself in the pane of one of the large windows, a moonless night outside throwing the world into pitch blackness. His shirt was wrinkled and his collar was half curled up from leaning against his hand. He looked positively disheveled, at least according to his own standards.

Attempting to smooth out the wrinkles in his clothing, he continued on towards his kitchen. The sound of thunder rumbled distantly as rain began to patter against the roof. Uryu sighed as he flicked on the lights and made his way to the refrigerator. A house so big meant it had a roof to match, and even a light rain could end up sounding rather deafening. His hand on the handle, he paused as he felt a flicker through his senses, a tingle of spiritual pressure that made the hair stand up on the back of his neck. Looking from side to side, he sharpened his senses and tried to focus on the sensation, but like a wisp of smoke, it was gone. Thunder rumbled closer, rattling the windows in their casements as Uryu took a closer step towards one of the windows. A crack of lightning arced across the sky, throwing the grounds outside into relief for a moment.

"What the..." he muttered, stepping closer to the window and drawing back the curtain a bit more. For a moment, he was sure there was someone, or something, outside. A shape, blacker than the night, standing motionless in the middle of the grass and looking up at the house... no, looking up at _him_. Another flash of lightning lit up the sky, but all he could see were the grounds of the huge yard, ordinary and familiar.

Convinced his eyes were playing tricks on him after studying for so long, Uryu shook his head at himself and retreated from the window, heading back to the kitchen. Opening the door to the refrigerator and stooping to grab a bottle of water, a crack of thunder boomed through the huge house, plunging everything into complete darkness as the power went out.

"Oh, for God's sake," he said, straightening up in the absolute blackness and blinking to adjust his eyes. _The house's generator should kick on in three... two... one_, he thought to himself. True enough, the lights all flickered back on and the fridge hummed back to life. Uryu was about to swing the fridge door shut as he turned, lifting the bottle to take a sip, when he looked right into the eyes of a dark shape, staring at him intently from the other side of the door.

Leaping backwards, Uryu managed to keep from yelling in surprise, however he did manage to manifest his spirit bow and nock an arrow in a single smooth motion, having it drawn and sighted as he landed across the room. Panting from the surge of adrenalin, it took him a moment to realize what his target was.

Nemu Kurotsuchi gently pushed the door to the refrigerator closed. She looked over at him, her face expressionless, as she watched him recognize her and lower his weapon. She lifted her hands and gently brushed her wet hair from her face, her soaked kimono spreading drops of rainwater on the expensive hardwood floor. "Hello, Quincy."

Her voice, as ever, was soft and melodic while still somehow remaining monotone. Wary and perplexed, but not feeling overly threatened, Uryu took a step closer to her. His few dealings with her directly had never truly involved any degree of combat, indeed she was one of the few people from the Soul Society he had met about whom he could say that. "Good evening, Soul Reaper."

"A situation has arisen," she said. "One that requires your particular skillset."

Uryu went from perplexed and mildly interested to affronted in seconds. "I'm sorry, it sounded for a minute right there like you broke into my house in the middle of the night, stood in my kitchen sopping wet, and told me that the thirteen court guard squads had something come up that they need a Quincy to handle for them." He stared hard at her but she neither moved not looked away.

"Yes, that is correct."

"Well you can forget it, I'm not in the business of helping out Soul Reapers just because they _tell _me to," he said, crossing his arms.

She took a step towards him this time, clasping her hands behind her back and drawing herself up straight as befitted her station as lieutenant of the twelfth division. "Would you agree if I _asked _you, then?"

Uryu was thrown off by her question. He hadn't considered that Nemu would truly engage him in conversation, in the past she had only ever served as spokesman for her father or the Soul Society. The fact that her posture had pulled her drenched black silk kimono tight to her body wasn't helping him focus either. "I will listen to what you have to say and then make a decision. Here, let me get you a towel first."

A few minutes later Uryu couldn't help but note the surreal situation playing out in his sitting room. A Soul Reaper other than Rukia or Ichigo was sitting on his sofa wrapped in a towel and sipping a cup of tea. If Ryuken found out about this he'd be livid, but Uryu wasn't exactly opposed to the idea of distressing his father. He actually wondered which part he'd be more upset at, the fact that he had a girl over in the middle of the night or that she happened to be a Soul Reaper.

"That was you I saw outside on the grounds, wasn't it?" he asked, coming around the corner and sitting in an opposite chair.

"Yes, the fact that you were able to sense my spiritual pressure even while my powers are sealed," she adjusted the edge of her kimono beneath the towel revealing a small black emblem at the base of her neck, "Speaks highly of your own powers and sensitivity."

"That's kind of you to say," Uryu replied, unused to being complimented on his abilities. "Now, what was this situation you were referring to earlier?"

Nemu set the cup of tea aside and clasped her hands in her lap, looking intently at Uryu with her piercing, liquid emerald eyes. "As you know, the Soul Society is not limited to the Seireitei. Outside the boundaries of the city lie a wilderness, sparsely populated by minor towns and kingdoms. These lands are overseen not by the court guard squads since they are outside the jurisdiction of Central Forty-Six, but by the patrol forces, who report to the stealth force."

"Yes, go on," Uryu prompted. Truthfully, he didn't really know much about the geography of the Soul Society, but it stood to reason that there had to be more to the spirit world than a single city.

"An unusual spiritual energy reading was detected by the twelfth division a short time ago, coming from far outside the city. The patrol force that investigated was never heard from again, and the stealth force that went in with the captain of squad two were quickly annihilated."

"The captain?" Uryu said, shocked.

"Captain Soifon was the only survivor," Nemu corrected. "High Captain Yamamoto has declared the area quarantined and no Soul Reaper is permitted to continue the investigation."

"I still don't know what this has to do with me," Uryu said, leaning back in his chair.

"The spiritual presence is growing at a slow but steady rate, according to my father. If left unchecked it will eventually grow large enough to threaten the Soul Society."

"Is it some kind of hollow or arrancar?"

"The energy signature is unlike something a hollow would have. In fact, we can find no record of this type of spirit energy anywhere in the archives. More troubling is the fact that it seems to absorb the spirit energy of anyone who approaches."

"Which is why no Soul Reapers are permitted to go near it," he concluded. "Still, what does this have to do with me?"

"As a Quincy, your spirit energy differs from that of a Soul Reaper," she said simply.

"Wait, that's it? You want me to go investigate some kind of dangerous spiritual presence in the Soul Society simply because I'm a Quincy?"

"That is not the only reason," Nemu said. "Due to my... unique physiology, it has been concluded that I would remain mostly unaffected by whatever the presence is using to siphon power from other Soul Reapers. As such, I have been tasked with investigating the phenomenon, and I do not wish to go alone."

Stunned, Uryu could find no immediate reply. Nemu was asking for his help, on her own, without orders from the Soul Society or her murderous, insane father? "They mean to send you in alone against something that wiped out a patrol force and a detachment from the stealth force? Something not even a captain could deal with?"

"Yes, that is correct," she said again, her voice flat and her face devoid of expression.

Uryu was unsure if his pride and sense of justice were being used against him, but none-the-less he felt he could not simply stand by and do nothing if she was going to walk into unknown danger alone. He sighed as he looked towards his study down the hall before standing and walking to a nearby cabinet. Opening it, he pushed the contents to the side and opened a concealed inner door, revealing his Quincy uniform and equipment all artfully arrayed, as if from a superhero comic book. Removing the carefully hung white and blue clothing, he turned back to Nemu. "When do we leave?"

Nemu stood from the couch, carefully setting the towel aside before turning back to him. "As soon as you are prepared."

Changing quickly, Uryu could feel the tingle of anticipation driving away his weariness. He returned to the cabinet, adjusting the mantle about his shoulders, before strapping on his other equipment. Testing the flex of his fingers within his gloves, he pushed his glasses up his nose and turned to Nemu, nodding that he was finished. "Will we be using Urahara's senkaimon to get there? I don't normally have a spirit form..." he began but trailed off as Nemu approached him, well within his sphere of personal space.

"I have my own means of returning both of us to the Soul Society. Please do not make any sudden movements while we are in transit," she said, coming to a stop toe to toe with him.

She was so close he could see the water still clinging to her eyelashes, hear her gentle breathing, smell the faint scent of cherry blossom the rain had not managed to wash away. She placed her hands against his chest and closed her eyes and Uryu was struck by just how warm they felt, even through his clothing. A soft light suddenly glowed beneath her hands, quickly enveloping the both of them in a pure white radiance. Startled but unmoving, Uryu looked around at the sphere of shining white light surrounding them as their feet lifted gently from the floor. Wind suddenly whipped and tore at their clothing, sending Nemu's hair swirling around her and his mantle billowing about his shoulders. In a moment, the wind was suddenly gone and their feet touched back onto the ground, the sphere of light flashed and disappeared.

"We have arrived," Nemu said.

Uryu looked down and realized she was much closer now, nearly pressed against his chest. He noticed his arms had unconsciously encircled her and he was holding her tightly. Embarrassed, he immediately released her, allowing her to step back from him as he cast his eyes around the room. "Where are we?"

"My chambers on the grounds of the twelfth division, in the heart of the Research and Development complex."

"Your... your chambers?" Uryu was quite sure he was where he was not supposed to be. Not only was he in the middle of Captain Kurotsuchi's headquarters, he was in the man's daughter's room in the middle of the night. Not that there was much in the small room to denote it was inhabited. He could imagine prison cells having more furniture. Coming directly from his father's lavish house, the comparison between it and this room made the word 'sparse' seem an inadequate description.

"You have gathered your equipment, and now I shall retrieve mine," Nemu said simply, walking a few steps away from him. "I call your name, Genjitsu Suraisa."

Uryu watched her make a deft motion with her fingers at chest level, leaving a small tear in the air behind them. Mystified, he watched her reach her hand through this tear, her arm disappearing up to her elbow, before she drew it back out again, her slender fingers gripping an unusual shaped pommel of a curved katana. Drawing the weapon out fully, the tear promptly closed back up and vanished as Nemu reverently slid the scabbard of her sword through the sash at her waist.

"I am ready," she said. "Come, there is something you need to see before we depart." She slid the door to her room aside and stepped out into the darkened hall beyond.


	2. Chapter 2

Author's Note: I had to invent Nemu's zanpakuto as she doesn't usually carry one in the canon material, but clearly has one based on a picture of her in one of the art books.

Chapter 2

Uryu silently followed Nemu through the halls of the twelfth division building with a growing sense of unease. He did his best not to let it affect his posture or expression, and remained serene and confident even as he heard growing whispers turn to interested conversation and watched furtive glances become incredulous stares as the two of them walked down the halls past the other members of the squad. Finally stopping at a huge metal doorway, complete with overly complicated locking mechanisms, Nemu turned to Uryu.

"Inside this chamber is an object retrieved from the site of the energy source, along with the one who carried it."

"Captain Soifon is in there?" Uryu asked, raising an eyebrow.

"No, it was obtained by a member of the original patrol expedition," she said as she turned back and unlocked the door with a press of her finger.

"I thought you said Captain Soifon was the only survivor..."

Nemu turned to look over her shoulder, catching him with the look in her emerald eyes. "The state of the patrol member does not meet the definition of 'survivor'."

The complicated locks unclamped, hissed, rotated and the doors slid open, revealing a darkened chamber. Following her inside, Uryu noticed a number of people all huddled around a laboratory station seemingly absorbed whatever they were examining. On the other side of the room, beyond an assortment of computer terminals, chemical equipment, and other less identifiable technical paraphernalia lay a single hospital bed, a lone man lying atop it.

"Stand aside, please," Nemu said, walking quietly further into the room, towards the knot of people huddled together.

"Of course, Lieutenant," one replied, lightly poking another who had been too absorbed with the object on the exam table. They all grudgingly moved away, but froze in confusion as they caught sight of Uryu approaching in step with her.

"The Quincy? What in the world were you thin... Ah, of course," spoke the unmistakable rasp of Captain Kurotsuchi as he walked from the shadows near the hospital bed, sliding his sword back into its sheath. "The Quincy. It makes perfect sense. A stroke of genius I wouldn't have expected from you, Nemu."

"Thank you, sir," Nemu said with small bow.

"And you," Mayuri continued before Uryu had a chance to speak, "Nemu has obviously informed you of the situation, and you felt it necessary to accompany her I suppose?" he walked up to stand beside the examine table, shooting a calculating gaze at the young man.

"How could I pass up the opportunity to beat the Soul Reapers at their own game?" Uryu stated, a slight sneer curving his face. "I'm sure Nemu and I will be able to handle whatever it was that even you Captains could not."

Rather than grow angry, Mayuri's lips spread into a wide, mocking grin as he chuckled in response. "Bold words, Quincy. We'll see if you're as brash after getting a look at these two, hmm?" he said, indicating the exam table and the hospital bed.

Nemu led Uryu over to the table, previously surrounded by curious scientists and he could finally see what had held their interest so intently. Enclosed within some type of transparent cylinder rested a odd little statue of deep green stone. The two of them approaching the edge of the table, Uryu bent low to peer at it while Nemu stood impassively next to him. The figure the statuette represented was undeniably horrifying and obviously the product of some deranged but meticulous artist, but Uryu found he just could not too impressed by it. He had seen similar figurines as parts of games played by other students at school. Never one with this level of workmanship though, the way the flecks of gold seemed to shimmer in the dim light.

"What is this?" he asked, glancing up at Nemu. He looked back down at the statue as he awaited her answer and blinked. The faint bands of cloudy jade through the rest of the dark green stone had changed. He was sure of it. The flecks of gold were in different places now too. He stared hard at the statue but it remained inert and motionless.

"It is an artifact recovered from the site of the energy reading," Nemu said. "Carried by that man there in his bare hands. Please remove the shielding hood, Uryu."

Uryu straightened up and reached out grasp the cylinder on the table and noticed that every other scientist backed further away. Even Captain Kurotsuchi maintained a careful distance. "You sure this is safe?" he felt compelled to ask her.

"It is necessary."

Uryu sighed and gently lifted the hood from over the small figurine, set it aside and waited patiently for something to happen. A few seconds passed in complete silence and Uryu turned a puzzled look at Nemu. He supposed he should be unsurprised to see her standing expressionless, still next to him.

"How very interesting," Captain Kurotsuchi said, rubbing his chin and gazing at them from across the room. "It seems your theory was correct, Nemu."

Uryu turned toward him but first caught sight of the other members of squad twelve, pale-faced and perspiring, obviously affected by something. A faint groaning could be heard past them, coming from the hospital bed and Uryu drew up taller to get a better look. The man on the bed had gone rigid, low sounds issuing from between his clenched teeth. "That man needs medical treatment, immediately," Uryu said, moving closer to him. His eyes stared unblinking at the ceiling, tendons pulled taut along his neck and his hands curled into claws, straining under some type of illness or pain.

"Impressive," said Mayuri, coming to stand beside Uryu at the man's bedside. "The paralysis of Ashisogi Jizo should render him unable to move at all, and yet clearly his body retains at least some gross motor control."

"Where is the fourth division? This man needs a hospital, not a research lab!" Uryu exclaimed, turning to Mayuri and holding out an arm at the prone man.

Mayuri's eyes swiveled from the groaning man to Uryu, the rest of his body remaining motionless. "This man is beyond the help of the fourth division. Our only opportunity to gain from his sacrifice is to study the effects he is experiencing."

Uryu felt his wrist captured in a crushing grip and turned to see the man in the hospital bed jerkily turn his head towards him, as if the effort to move taxed him to the point of exhaustion. His wide, staring eyes met Uryu's and his lips trembled, his teeth chattering as if trying to speak. Bending closer, Uryu strained to hear what the poor man was struggling to say.

"F-f-fhu... taahh... ghnn..."

"More nonsense," the Captain sighed. "He's been uttering these ridiculous words since arriving."

Uryu felt the man's grip on his wrist suddenly go slack, his hand falling lifelessly back to the bed. The tension had left his entire body except for his eyes, which remained wide, unfocused and unblinking. Uryu glanced over to see Nemu had replaced the hood over the figurine and was walking slowly towards him.

"So now you know the gravity of the situation," Nemu said. "This effect is but the first, inflicted while the energy source was relatively minor and unstable. The energy source is gaining in power and range even now. We should begin our journey."

With a parting glance at the shell of the man on the hospital bed, and the strange statuette on the exam table, Uryu nodded in agreement and quickly followed as Nemu turned to leave.

"You've retrieved your zanpakuto," Mayuri said as he watched her go. "Have you adequately mastered it?"

Nemu paused at the large doorway and turned back to her captain. "I have. Up to the fifth sequence, sir."

"I hope, for _our_ sakes, that it will be sufficient," he said dismissively, turning away from her with careless indifference.

Uryu chewed his lips as he followed Nemu back out of the Research and Development complex, finally speaking once the two of them emerged into the still night air. "Doesn't it bother you? The way the Captain speaks to you?"

"No," came her immediate reply.

"I can't believe that. No one could simply shrug off such treatment as if it didn't affect them."

Nemu stopped and turned towards him, her face still an expressionless mask but her eyes were sharp and narrowed. "The way the Captain treats the members of his division is of no concern of yours, and is not the focus of this mission."

"Regardless of it being the focus of this mission, no one deserves to be treated that way, it's abuse."

"The definition of abuse is misuse, or injurious treatment. As you were made aware during our first encounter, my unique physiology affords me a far greater tolerance for pain and injury than other Soul Reapers. Captain Kurotsuchi _uses_ this to the benefit of the Soul Society, as evidenced by the outcome of the encounter with Szayel Aporro Granz." She took a step closer to him. "He does not _misuse_ me."

Refusing to back down, Uryu looked her directly back in the eye. "You sound as if you are trying to convince yourself."

"Would you prefer it if he coddled me, and kept me far away from anything dangerous?" she asked, her eyes hard. "Would it be better if the Captain prohibited even a single member of the division to face the horrors of the worlds? To shut his eyes and refuse to acknowledge the very real danger we face?"

"No, of course not, but-"

"Then, by your own admission, if the Captain is willing to do what he can to oppose the forces that would destroy us, as his subordinates we are obligated to face and oppose those forces as well. The Captain expects this of us, and as Lieutenant I serve as an example to the other members of the division."

"There is a difference between true loyalty and blind obedience, Soul Reaper."

"I am perfectly aware of that, Quincy."

"And there is a difference between leveraging an advantage and callous cruelty."

"If the result is the same, is there truly a difference?" she asked sharply.

"The ends justify the means, eh? How about this, brush your hair over your ear," he said, watching the hard look in her eyes dissolve into curious confusion. As if unsure, she lifted one hand and quickly did as he asked, her motions marked by a conservation of energy, exactly enough to accomplish the task and no more. She returned to her usual pose, hands clasped back behind her back as she looked at him quizzically.

"What was the point of tha-" she began. The words died on her lips as she watched Uryu slide one hand from his glove before he reached up, his fingers gently tracing across her temple and over the top of her other ear, smoothly tucking the few errant strands of her hair behind it. His fingers continued, curling around the shell of her ear, each one brushing over the sensitive skin at the top of her neck as they retreated back to his palm. He lowered his hand and returned it to his glove before adjusting his collar and straightening his glasses.

"The result is the same," he said, walking past her towards the gates of the twelfth division grounds, "But were the means different?"

At a loss for words, Nemu remained silent as she turned and fell into step next him. She gently touched the area of her neck grazed by his fingers, reflecting upon, analyzing, and categorizing the sensations such a simple and gentle action imparted, before dropping her hands to her sides again and pushing all thoughts from her mind except those focused on their mission.

Uryu caught the motion out of the corner of his eye, relieved his own face was mostly turned away from her. Not normally one to act so impulsively, he had begun to blush furiously at such a brazen degree of physical contact, but he told himself that he had done it to prove a very valid point. In counterpoint, he told himself firmly that he had _not_ done it just to see her eyes better, gleaming like polished emeralds beneath the surface of crystal clear water. Clearing his throat, he reined in his thoughts and focused his mind back to their mission.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Leaving the Seireitei immediately with plans to rendezvous with another patrol force that evening, Uryu and Nemu walked out the towering gates and into the first of the many Rukon districts just as the stars above them began to fade in the early morning light. Heading past houses and markets just beginning to open, they endured the opposite reaction they had encountered while walking through the twelfth division complex. The pair of them were immediately recognized by a great number of the district's inhabitants, if not by face than by reputation and distinctive apparel. Uryu was hailed to and waved at as they passed, but these often withered and muted, the people scurrying away upon seeing Nemu beside him.

"The twelfth division does not seem particularly popular among the people here," Uryu noted, watching houses close up and merchants retreat inside as they neared.

"No, we are not," came her reply. They walked on through the districts, the streets gradually turning from lined pavements to rutted dirt, the houses and buildings almost imperceptibly transitioning from lavish to decrepit.

"How far away is... wherever we're headed?" Uryu asked, breaking the silence.

"Three days from the edge of the eightieth district," she replied quietly.

Uryu noticed that her hand had edged closer to the hilt of her sword the further they walked from the Seireitei. Glancing around, he noticed they were getting fewer nervous looks and more angry ones. To distract her from what must be an unsettling situation, Uryu decided to make another valiant attempt at conversation. "I don't think I've seen you carry your zanpakuto before."

"Captains and Lieutenants do not typically carry them inside the city," she said.

"But you didn't even have yours the day we met, when all Soul Reapers had been given permission to use them. And you didn't have it when we faced the Espada."

"No," she admitted, "I did not."

"Any particular reason?"

"My zanpakuto is..." she seemed to struggle to find an appropriate word, "Difficult to understand."

"Oh?" Uryu prompted. He let it hang in the air significantly but Nemu was apparently either oblivious or unwilling to elaborate. Likely the latter, Uryu decided.

The structures, for they were now so ramshackle that they could not accurately be called houses, grew less and less frequent as they continued down the road. Muddy alleys gave way to simple fields, which in turn gave way to greater and greater stretches of green wilderness beyond them. Passing the last hovel-like hut, Nemu paused. She turned and bowed in the direction from which they came, then turned back and placed her hand firmly on the hilt of her sword beneath the curiously warped guard. This was the only change in her, otherwise she retained her perfectly straight, if slightly withdrawn, posture.

"Expecting trouble?" Uryu asked archly. He couldn't truly believe anything in so pastoral a setting would require her to be on her guard just as the sun was coming up.

"We are now outside the Soul Society," she explained. "The laws of the Seireitei do not hold here, and neither are Soul Reapers afforded respect or courtesy."

"But it's so tranquil here," he said, indicating the rolling pasture land, evergreen forests beyond and snowcapped mountains rising in the distance. "It seems like _this_ is what people refer to when they speak of the afterlife." Seeing her expression, he amended, "You know, in the world of the living."

"It only seems that way," Nemu said. "There are dangers here, hollows being the least of them, ready to strike the unwary or less powerful. It is why the Soul Society exists, those souls too weak to defend themselves properly banding together for mutual protection and survival."

Uryu chuckled as the first rays of the sun peaked over the treetops.

"I fail to understand what you find humorous in my statement," Nemu said.

"The way you describe the afterlife," Uryu said, pointing to a tangle of thorny vines growing in the shadows of a thicket of trees near the road. The sun was just beginning to crest and had lit the world in a gentle orange warmth, throwing long early morning shadows out in front of them. "Not exactly sunshine and roses, is it?"

Perplexed by his statement, she reasoned it must be some type of human expression before looking again at the thorny vines. They were indeed wild roses.

The two of them traveled down the road in comfortable, if not companionable, silence until it neared midday. Turning a bend in the road, they caught sight of a laden wagon rolling towards them, drawn by a pair of tired looking horses and driven by a trio of tired looking men. They had a look of tense desperation about them, as if they strove to move faster yet dreaded the road they traveled.

Uryu watched Nemu tense slightly, her posture turning slightly, her feet edging carefully to stand perfectly balanced. A casual glance would not have revealed her ready stance, anyone else would have simply seen a timid girl, her hand loosely on the sword belted through her sash. Uryu quickly looked back to the approaching cart, realizing he had not been, in fact, glancing casually.

"They are pointing at us," Nemu said quietly.

"Perhaps they need assistance?" Uryu suggested, seeing the relief beginning to edge their features. Nemu looked skeptical, as much as he thought she would look any particular emotion.

"You are Soul Reapers, from the white city?" one asked, as if unsure of the propriety of his actions.

"She is," Uryu clearly corrected.

"Can you help us? We are headed to the city because we do not know what to do," a second man haltingly admitted.

"Why are you traveling to the Soul Society?" Nemu asked.

"Our friend, there is something wrong with him," he said, "We have never seen this before."

Moving around to the rear of the wagon, the pulled the hanging covers aside as Nemu and Uryu peered within. Despite the never changing season of summer and the warmth of the noon sun shining down, both of them shuddered and drew back, chilled not by anything cold, but by horror and revulsion.

"We... we had to bind his hands," one of the men admitted quietly.

"Do not take this man anywhere near the Soul Society," Nemu said, watching the figure within scuttle clumsily away from the light through the parted hangings, high pitched, feverish whimpers spilling from his chapped and bloody lips. The figure turned back to look in their direction but Nemu quickly closed the hangings as he shrieked, a horrid and inhuman noise seeming to tear itself from the man's throat.

The three men stepped away and cast their eyes down, only daring to look back up as the wailing cry returned once again to maddened giggles and whimpers. "Where are we to take him?" one of them asked, worrying his hat in his hands.

Not bothering to answer, Nemu lifted a delicate hand outward towards the direction they had come. From nowhere in particular, a black butterfly gently flitted past her, alighting on her outstretched fingers and slowly beat its maroon trimmed wings as it turned to face her. Sitting there for only a moment, it lifted off and was soon lost in the blazing light of the midday sky. Finally, Nemu turned to the men saying, "Move your cart off the road and remain here until the ones I have called come to meet you."

Immediately complying, the men thanked them profusely as Uryu and Nemu left them behind and continued down the road. Once out of earshot and safely alone, Uryu turned to her as the road moved between a small stand of broad-leafed trees.

"What do you think was wrong with that man?" he asked.

"He is suffering from the same malady that the man in the twelfth division headquarters is," she replied.

"How can you be so sure?" he pressed.

"Based on the direction they came from and the state of their animals, it is likely they came from nearby the signal we are heading to investigate."

"So you called the fourth division to help them," Uryu stated.

"No," she said.

"The twelfth division?" he hazarded.

"No."

"Then who did you call?"

"The assassination squad," she replied as evenly as she could.

"You can't be serious," he said aghast at her actions.

"I could not permit them getting any closer to the Soul Society," she said, shadows from the trees playing over her face.

"They were coming for help!" he exclaimed, "That man was sick!"

"Precisely," she said, "Like hunger, true illness does not exist in this world. Yet something had clearly affected that man, and was beginning to affect his companions."

Uryu started, thinking back to the way the men had behaved. A tenseness had permeated them, nervousness and muscle spasms that would normally be dismissed seemed to be startlingly out of place when examined as symptomatic of some deeper infection.

"I could not allow them to put the city at risk," she said.

Uryu gaped at Nemu as she resolutely continued walking. To condemn four innocent men to death on the _theory_ of a communicable disease was monstrous, there was no other word for it. Uryu swallowed a dry lump in his throat as he considered what other acts she might be capable of after such desensitizing treatment at the hands of her father. However, Uryu thought he had heard a slight quiver in her voice that belied the stoic, expressionless mask she permanently wore. Perhaps she was not as insensitive as she tried to appear.

The mood that settled between the two of them was not lightened by the brilliant afternoon sun as the day progressed, nor was it lifted by the beauty of the landscape around them. Further conversation remained terse and only upon mission specific topics. Evening was beginning to fall when Nemu began to look troubled. At least, Uryu thought she looked troubled.

"We are to meet the patrol force at the next fork in this road," she said.

"Then why are you so nervous?" he asked.

"We have made no effort to conceal or suppress our spiritual pressure, and yet we have not seen or heard from the patrol members yet," she said.

"Oh, they should have sensed us by now and come to find us?" Uryu deduced.

Nemu did not reply, only tightened her grip around the hilt of her weapon and kept walking. In the gathering darkness, the forest around them had taken on a quiet, pressing quality, as if the trees could crowd the road and prevent them from continuing. Their branches creaked in the light breeze and the shafts of setting sunlight flashed through the leaves.

A hush fell across the land as the sun hid itself behind the trees, a final refuge before setting completely. The pair of them drew quieter in instinctual response, their footfalls softening and each of them warily watching the darkened trunks of the trees a little more closely than they had earlier. Taking a cue from Nemu, Uryu settled his hand across the strap holding his Seele blades, taking an odd comfort in their ready position.

They turned a final bend in the road and could see the fork ahead of them, long, dim shadows once again slicing across their path. In a clearing beyond, laying in the lush grass around a few small campfires, were a dozen huddled shapes.

Uryu at once noticed something wasn't quite right, and moved to lay a hand on her shoulder, his fingers grazing the black silk just as he felt her own small hand press against his arm. Each nodding wordlessly, their motions slowed to a cautious creep, Nemu thumbing her sword up an inch in her scabbard as Uryu drew his own Seele blade but dared not activate it for fear its glow would disclose their position.

The stillness of the scene was perhaps the most unnerving. The small guttering campfires threw the huddled figures into alternating patterns of light and shadow, giving each the impression of movement, but an impression was all that remained. The bodies of the patrol force, each fallen awkwardly and mutilated by strange weapons that had simultaneously sliced and crushed with each blow, had clearly been taken by surprise. Some had not even drawn their swords, others had never even stood. Still others appeared to have begged for mercy, their knees still prostrate as they lay pitched in the grass.

When it was clear that Uryu and Nemu were the only living beings in that clearing, he turned to her, watching her carefully survey the scene. "What could have done this?"

"I do not know," she said, "But we should leave this place, in all haste."

Uryu nodded and prepared to follow her, watching her bend to retrieve a pack from the ground. Realizing that this group would have had their supplies, he could not truly blame her for prudently retrieving what they'd need to continue. She slung the pack over her shoulder and slid her sword back down into the sheath with a firm snap. A snapping branch nearby answered it.

As one, they turned toward the sound coming from the edge of the clearing. Between the tall brambles and low hanging tree limbs, it was difficult to make anything out even with the help of the campfire light. Beyond, they both could now hear rustles of branches and faint puffs of snorting breath as it came closer. Something darker than the shadows of the tree branches, it's impressive size forcing them aside with creaks and snaps, was looming just beyond the range of their vision.

With a roar, the stillness of the scene was shattered as a form came crashing through the forest and into the clearing. Tearing up the ground beneath enormous claws, its head lowered and its body covered with rotting, scaly flesh, it bled from numerous wounds and the entirety of it screamed of ravenous fury. It turned its massive, bleached white skull of a face and dropped open several sets of fanged jaws, ropes of sticky saliva hanging down to drip to the ground. It roared again as it faced them, tensing as if preparing to leap again.

"It's a... hollow?" Uryu asked. It certainly had the form of one, but this beast was obviously more primal and savage than any he had seen hunting in the world of the living.

"Yes," Nemu replied. She would have continued if she hadn't been interrupted by another sound, this one from behind the massive hollow. Another rushing crash was barreling down upon the clearing, and the hollow had heard it too, pivoting in place to intercept the noise.

The sharp, ringing report of one solid object striking hard against another rang out through the clearing. The hollow reeled, cracks beginning to splinter across its masked faced, and shuffled ungainly to the side revealing the form of a crouched man. Panting, with thin rivulets of blood dripping down his face and matting his hair, he kept his eyes on the hollow as he drew his weapon back across him. Uryu noticed that it was not a typical curved katana, but rather a straight, short staff.

The mask of the hollow beginning to fall apart, Uryu thought it finished, so it surprised him greatly to see it lash a heavy limb out with incredible speed, colliding with the injured man and flinging him backwards. He hit a thick tree trunk twenty feet away and crashed to its base, unmoving. Enraged, it bellowed at the man, its jaws hanging half slack from the injury the man had inflicted, but still functional enough to be dangerous. Manifesting his spirit bow, he drew a bead upon the hollow and let fly, the blue crackling shaft slicing through the twilight and into the flank of the hollow. Its rotting flesh sizzled and smoked, a blackened hole cauterized into its shoulder. For all the good it did he may as well have thrown a rock at it.

"This hollow appears to be unusually powerful," Nemu said next to Uryu as she drew her sword, the blade ringing a strange, haunting chord rather than a clear note as it left its scabbard.

"Indeed, I would presume that it is what attacked the patrol force," Uryu said, noting the beast's barbed and muscled limbs. It turned away from the fallen man and rolled its massive head on its thick neck. Uryu could see the cracks splintered across the hollow's mask but in the dim light he could see something else beneath them, writhing and coiling in the splitting crevices. Having no time to dwell on the strangeness of it, Uryu and Nemu both had to leap away as the hollow came rushing in their direction.

Unleashing a hail of shining blue arrows from his bow, Uryu bombarded the area around the hollow as he arced gracefully through the air and landed in the low boughs of a nearby tree. Seeming to only enrage it further, Uryu frowned at the lack of effect he was experiencing, deciding instead to draw a Seele blade in each hand and crouch low as he scanned for Nemu. If they could flank the beast they'd have an easier time dispatching it at close range.

He saw her a moment later, coming to a stop in the open across the clearing from the hollow and aiming an icy look back at it. Uryu watched it tear the ground as it turned toward her, its jaws working in slavering hunger as it eyed her. With a burst of sudden spiritual pressure that nearly knocked him from his perch, he watched Nemu slice the hem of her kimono up her thigh with a quick and sure motion, the black silk splitting up her leg without even grazing her skin. Raising her katana in position over her head and dropping into a ready stance, Uryu felt her pressure rise higher and realized she was about to release her shikai.

"One step, Genjitsu Suraisa," Nemu said. She felt her sword's hungry eagerness as it released but also its keen displeasure at being limited to first sequence, both combining to a nearly sickening, alien sensation within her mind. The hilt writhed in her hand as the guard bent and distorted even more, the shape of it almost difficult to look at. She brought her sword to bear across her, narrowing her eyes past the blade and ignoring the sword's twisted voice as it uttered tortured whispers in her ear. Slowly, and with great concentration, she let the sword slice through the air.

Only it wasn't the air she cut, for as she ended the simple stroke the edge of her weapon trailed a ragged and vicious tear, as if the tip of her sword had wounded the fabric of reality itself. Tear was the closest word Uryu had to describe the fluttering, roiling cut through space as it wafted in the wake of her blade because it implied it left a view visible to whatever lay on the other side. Conversely, attempting to peer deeper into whatever lay within _this_ tear left Uryu only with a horrible sense of _wrongness_.

Uryu watched this all unfold, speechless at such an unusual display of power. The hollow chose this moment to charge, roaring as it pounded over the grass of the clearing. Nemu's sword flicked through air, carving and slicing in an intricate dance, all the while trailing that black, sinister distortion. He found himself forced to look away, for the sword bent the image of what lay beyond it in unnatural, unsettling ways.

Looking back to the hollow, he could see it slowing as it stumbled, great gouts of ichorous blood bursting from sudden, enormous gashes as the edge of her weapon seemed to slice at the beast from dozen different angles. Wounded, the hollow fell panting to the ground, still clawing and rasping as it struggled towards her. Uryu watched, morbidly fascinated, as Nemu thrust her sword out before her, the blade of it disappearing through the black tear. Turning back to the hollow, still more than twenty paces from her, he watched the blade flash out from a matching tear and bury itself deep through a crack in the hollow's mask. With a sickening crunch, Nemu savagely twisted herself, forcing the crack to split open wider and then sweeping her blade down, biting through the hollow's mask and skull before ripping the blade free.

As if it could fight against the mortal wound and refuse to dematerialize, the hollow continued to quiver, its limbs shaking as they slowly dissolved. From the split through the hollow's mask, shiny undulating coils of rubbery flesh flexed and slid greasily over each other, as if they were vainly trying to pull the mask closed again.

Descending from the tree and approaching the slowly decaying hollow, he saw Nemu do the same as she flicked her sword back into its sealed state, the trail of ragged blackness zipping itself closed. "Have you ever seen something like this?" he asked, indicating the reduced rate of decay and strange movements beneath its mask. He purposefully did not mention her weapon.

"No, not directly. However, there are old records in the archives that describe this phenomenon." She carefully aimed her sword at the split in the dead hollow's mask, then plunged it deep into where one would expect a brain to be. A pitchy squeal reverberated from within the hollow's head, coils of flesh reaching out to wrap limply around her sword blade before it finally gurgled and died away. Whatever force keeping the hollow together vanished a second later, its body blowing away in the breeze, reduced to mere ash.

Nemu cleaned the blade of her sword and slipped it back inside the scabbard at her side. She noticed Uryu staring at her expectantly, no doubt awaiting clarification on the contents of the records she mentioned. There was no point in telling him anything until she was certain and would have promptly ignored him if not for an odd sensation within her, a pang of some emotional variety. "I will discuss the reports at a later time," she said, not wishing to be rude. "We should see if the patrol member managed to survive."

Uryu nodded, following her towards the man who had recklessly attacked the hollow. Not being an expert on traditional Soul Reaper attire, Uryu still noticed he appeared to wear some variation of it, though profusely torn and bloodied. His weapon was different as well, being a matte black wrapped short staff, each end shod with blunt metal caps. Stooping, Uryu tried to get a better look at the man's face, partially hidden by lank, blood-matted hair and smeared with dirt. Up closer, he could hear ragged, shallow breathing.

Uryu looked over to Nemu to inform her he was still alive and watched her quickly establish there were no other survivors or hollows. His voice was very nearly constricted in his throat as he watched her turn to approach, tendrils of her hair having escaped her long braid and framing her fair face. The slit she had made up the side of the skirt of her kimono, presumably to allow her more freedom to move, was now revealing far more of her thigh than Uryu felt was strictly appropriate. His voice only very _nearly_ constricted in his throat, Uryu would not have let the seriousness of the situation unfolding around him to be superseded by just how striking Nemu might have looked, lit only by low campfire light, the orange simmering at the edges of her deep green eyes. "This man is still alive," he said simply to her.

"Can you tell us what happened to the other members of your patrol?" Nemu asked clinically, standing over him.

"He is seriously injured and needs treatment," Uryu gently pointed out. An interrogation in his state would not only be fruitless, but cruel as well. Uryu watched the man's eyes loll in his head as he slumped further into unconsciousness.

"Can he be carried by flash step?" Nemu asked, glancing to the surrounding forest. "There is a settlement not far where we can rest for the night and mend this man's wounds."

"I believe so," Uryu guessed. Remembering the four travelers they had passed, Uryu did not want to run the risk of having Nemu suggest abandoning the man, and he gingerly hoisted the man up onto his shoulder, as mindful of any ribs thay may be cracked as he could. He watched as Nemu bent down to pick up the man's weapon, improvising a strap for it and slinging it across her back. Nodding to him, she sped away, Uryu locking his arms to secure the man and quickly following, the branches of the trees blown wide as they rushed from the clearing.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The settlement, really nothing more than a few cottages surrounded by a low wall, was silent and eerily forbidding as they arrived. The crumbling houses, with their weather beaten sloped roofs, were crouched in the deepening darkness and exuded the strange uneasiness that only come from cold and empty buildings. A barrier spell along the wall, no doubt designed to repel lesser hollows and other predators, was just beginning flicker and fade as they came near. Uryu noticed several of the cottage doors standing open while spaces that appeared to usually hold carts or animals stood empty.

"This place has been abandoned," he said, adjusting man across his shoulder.

"Recently," Nemu added. "The dwellings have not been looted or burned."

Nemu reached out and slid aside the barrier as they walked through the gap in the wall. She turned around and strengthened the failing spell, reinforcing it with another of her own before she returned to Uryu's side as he surveyed the tiny village.

"I suppose we have our pick of where to stay then," Uryu commented.

"That one," Nemu said, pointing to a small cottage in drastic need of repair, "It is the most defensible."

"Naturally," Uryu sighed. He followed Nemu as she cautiously made her way inside. The night seemed to hurry them inside, pressing in against the door as they closed it.

Later, Uryu rubbed his chin in concern as the patrolman continued to toss fitfully, mumbling slightly to himself on a thin mattress in the corner of the tiny cottage they had appropriated. Uryu checked his bandages again and made sure he was as comfortable as they could make him before returning to the small fire blazing in the hearth. Stirring a hanging pot, he pushed it back over the flames and tested a kettle sitting on the bricks near the embers.

"Tea?" he asked Nemu as she carefully examined everything in the patrol force travel pack. She nodded without looking or saying a word, which Uryu accepted in stride as he poured water from the kettle into one of the battered cups they had found. Finishing, she rose from the laid out contents of the pack and knelt down near Uryu, drawing her sword from the sash at her side and deftly slicing the air with her fingers again, just as she had done in her own quarters. A black tear opened up, and into it Nemu slid her sword, sealing it up again with a flick. She then accepted the tea cup Uryu had held out wordlessly, holding it in her hands and allowing it to steep, as if opening up a hole in space was a normal everyday occurrence.

Uryu's initial disquiet had slowly given way to interest in such an unusual ability and style of combat. Pouring himself a cup of tea as well, he blew across the surface as he regarded her. "I don't believe I've even seen a zanpakuto like yours, although my experience is somewhat limited to Ichigo's and Rukia's. Hers is an ice-type, I believe you call them, and Ichigo's... well, his is just big and sharp."

"The Substitute Soul Reaper carries what's known as a combat type. You are correct about Rukia Kuchiki's, hers is a kido-type, elemental subset, ice variant," she replied softly.

"So what type is yours?" he asked, ladling soup from the pot over the fire into a pair of bowls.

"Genjitsu Suraisa is very willful," Nemu said. "He has not permitted an in-depth analysis of his spiritual pressure." Normally she would have simply answered questions and ventured forth very little information beyond that. However, for reasons she didn't quite understand, she continued to explain. "I have attempted to discern the nature and extent of his abilities, but he has defied precise classification. It is clear he is kido-type, at least partially. Even if he were agreeable, it is likely that the nature of his shikai would make further identification difficult."

"I thought your sword's spirits can talk to you," Uryu replied, handing her a bowl. "Why don't you just ask?"

"My sword will only speak to me while I am asleep," Nemu said quietly. "It can be... unpleasant."

"Ah, which is why you keep it, uh... him, it that black space?" he guessed.

"Yes, some of what Genjitsu Suraisa imparts is very disturbing. Sealing him away tends to reduce the effects." She stared into the simple soup he had made for them before beginning to eat. Between the fight with the hollow forcing her to release her sword, using flash step to cover the distance to the village, and erecting a barrier along the wall, she had expended enough spirit energy to leave her starving.

"With a weapon so temperamental, it is remarkable you attained shikai release," Uryu said, blowing across a spoonful of soup. Her dreams must be truly terrible if Nemu would describe them as disturbing, a girl who didn't bat an eyelash at the more grotesque and loathsome actions of her captain.

"My zanpakuto is not temperamental," Nemu strongly corrected. She looked up to see Uryu raise his eyebrows at her tone. "Forgive me," she amended quietly, "It is a common misconception among the other seated officers that my weapon... does not like me."

"So they think that's the cause of his willfulness?" Uryu said, dabbing the corner of his mouth with an improvised napkin.

"Yes. Truthfully, Genjitsu Suraisa is eager to be wielded and released. It was he who took the time to teach me the ten steps of his shikai, and now demands to focus on bankai release if I don't seal him away."

"The steps, that's the sequence you referring to when you spoke to Captain Kurotsuchi? I thought you said you had only progressed through the fifth, there are ten?"

"Each step has a price that he demands in return for increased power, I dare not pay more than what the fifth step requires," Nemu said. Her increased resilience was taxed at the fifth step, though she believed she could briefly maintain steps six or seven.

"It's not your weapon holding you back, it's you holding your weapon back?" Uryu said. He watched Nemu nod at his assessment, her green eyes staring deep into the low fire in the hearth. "I suppose that is why you're hesitant to train for your bankai release?"

Nemu stole a glance at Uryu's face. It was obvious he didn't realize what exactly she had to trade for each step of her shikai. She couldn't blame him though, few others in the Soul Society did. She considered her answer carefully before saying, "The effect of my weapon's bankai release is still unknown."

"Oh, I see," Uryu said, noting but not commenting on her choice of words. After finishing his soup, he busied himself in retrieving his mantle and coat from where he had hung them and worked at cleaning the injured man's blood stains out with a bowl of hot water and soft brush. Once sufficiently clean, he draped them over a chair and sat down in another one, the fire in the hearth warming the cottage to the point where he felt perfectly comfortable in his shirt and slacks. Putting his feet up in a manner he never would've dreamed of doing at home, he pushed his chair back onto its rear legs and settled into a comfortable recline. His eyes wandered over to Nemu as she carried a bowl over to the injured man. Though her face remained expressionless, there was a definite tenderness in the movements of her hands as she gently tipped a few spoonfuls of broth past the man's parched lips.

When she turned back Uryu noticed the slit up the outside of her thigh had fallen casually open, her cream colored, well toned leg peeking from beneath the black silk of her kimono. The leg that Uryu had been using to brace himself buckled unexpectedly, causing him to nearly topple from his perch. "I could repair that tear, if you'd like," he recovered, leaning the chair back down.

Nemu looked down at the side of her kimono as if she had just realized it was still slit. "That will be unnecessary."

"At least let me hem the top so it won't tear anymore," Uryu said. Any higher and he'd begin to worry about unintentional indecency due to a mild breeze, let alone flash step or the rigors of combat.

"If you feel you must," Nemu said.

Uryu stood and retrieved the small kit he kept with his equipment, drawing out a needle and a spool of black thread before turning back to Nemu to see her untying the sash at her waist and preparing to unwrap her kimono. "Uh, really Nemu you don't need to do that."

"Nonsense," she replied, slipping the garment off and handing it to him.

If Uryu considered her black kimono to be short, he didn't really have the vocabulary to describe the white nagajuban she wore beneath it aside from short_er_. Choosing to focus on stitching a hem into the cloth, Uryu required every ounce of his considerable self-control to keep his eyes on the needle and thread instead of on Nemu, now dressed only in a thin white robe and her blood red choker. His concentration was shaken when she knelt down on her unrolled mattress and pulled the tie from her hair, combing her fingers through the dark tresses that spilled down her back like a silk waterfall. With quick, precise movements, he watched her re-braid her hair, binding up the rich length of shimmering blackness back into its typical, tightly restrained, plait. Uryu quickly tied off the end of the thread and stood to hand the black kimono back to Nemu.

"Please just hang it over the chair," she said, pulling her braid over her shoulder and securing the end, "The barrier outside will alert us if anything approaches." She filled a bowl with water from the kettle and began using a cloth to wipe off her face. Drops of water were sent sliding down the skin of her neck and disappeared beneath the collar of her thin robe. One in particular caught Uryu's attention as it cleared her choker and traced a line down her throat and over her collar bone, pausing briefly before sliding down her front.

Uryu, certain his voice would crack if he attempted to use it, nodded wordlessly and stepped to the chair to fold her black kimono beside his own white coat. He glanced over to Nemu to see slide her legs beneath her blanket and lay on her mattress, hands clasped together but her eyes still open, obviously unable to sleep. Looking up out the grimy window, he could see nothing but his own reflection, the light from the fire and the stifling blackness of night rendering any type of watch to be futile. Spreading his own mattress and blanket out not exactly next to but not exactly far away from Nemu, he deliberately put the solid pillar of the cottage chimney at his back and made sure he could see both the door and the window without having to turn. Only after placing his equipment belt near his hands did Uryu lay down, though he did not think sleep would come easily to him.

"Nemu, what do the records in the archives say about what happened to that hollow you mentioned earlier?" he asked into the quiet that fallen between them, keeping an eye on the door and window.

"Before the creation of the Department of Research and Development, before he had even become a captain, when Kisuke Urahara had been an unseated Soul Reaper assigned to the world of the living, he kept records of unusual activity he encountered over the course of his duty. These records are some of the earliest of those associated with R and D. One of them details a hollow of atypical size and ferocity, which was obviously suffering from some type of parasitic infection, encountered in an area of unusually high spiritual energy. The hollow was defeated but a brief investigation on his part proved fruitless as the energy dissipated soon after, however a large number of human souls required konso in that area at the same time, requiring his attention. He was unable to establish a direct connection between these three situations, the hollow, the energy swell and the humans who had died, but he believed there was enough anecdotal evidence to suggest it. He even named the entity, thinking it was some new form of arrancar. He clearly thought himself humorous, for he specifically referred to it as 'Amigo'."

"A Mi-Go? Do you think whatever it was affecting that hollow this evening was this Mi-Go that Urahara had encountered all those years ago?" Uryu asked.

"I think that if we did encounter the same type of parasite, the one we found today had not fully developed. If that's true, then I also think it unlikely to be a singular encounter, but rather the first of many."

Uryu did not reply, only moving to settle his glasses higher on the bridge of his nose and adjust his shoulders to a slightly more comfortable position as he kept watch. It was going to be a long night.

* * *

Lightly touching his shoulder, Nemu was crouched down at Uryu's side as the odd, ethereal noise echoed again through the village, joined now by others across the forest. She looked up, out the window towards the deep darkness of night beyond for some indication of the source of such a call, but saw nothing. The fire burning low in the hearth threw long shadows across the walls of the small cottage that seemed to move and dance in time with the unnerving noises outside. She looked back down to find his eyes open, staring intently at her over the top of his glasses. She had not felt him move a single muscle through the hand that still lay against his shoulder, but he was gripping a Seele blade handle in each hand none the less.

"There is something outside," she whispered to him, bending closer. She found herself caught abruptly by his eyes, pure pools of deep azure, and felt something odd stir within her as they shifted away from her to look out the window. Her fingers tightened around the scabbard of her sword as the eerie calling noises began to grow again, this time from many points around the village.

Uryu listened to the chorus of calls echoing through the still air of the early morning, seeming to ebb and flow like a rolling tide. "Those are whippoorwills, Nemu," Uryu said, "Just a bird."

"Birdsong does not follow such a pattern," Nemu said, "Listen to them." She turned away from him and held very still.

Uryu did, detecting something amiss even as Nemu spoke. He moved to his knees as well, straining his ears as the cries of the birds began to slide together, each of them calling out in unison, louder and louder. A wheezing, rattling breath caught his attention as the wounded patrolman shifted on his mattress. His chest fell slowly as the air left his lungs and Uryu heard the calls of the whippoorwills grow in intensity.

"The wounded man," Uryu said quietly, watching as he strained to take another breath and the birds outside calming their frenzied calls, as if waiting for the man to breath out again. "They are calling in time with his breathing."

Nemu looked over and watched the man's chapped lips part as he groaned out another breath, the birds outside immediately resuming their echoing chants. She rose and moved closer to him, checking his bandages and feeling his skin. "He is getting worse, he needs more medical attention than I am capable of on my own."

"Is there anything I can do to help," Uryu asked, listening to the birds growing closer and more desperate outside. "It's like they know... They call louder and louder, like they're waiting for his last breath..." He shook himself out of his distracted stupor to pay attention to what Nemu was saying.

"...empowered that way, even my low level healing spells should be able to stabilize him. It may be dangerous, but it is our only option if we are to save this man's life."

"What do you need me to do?" Uryu asked, slipping his weapons away and looking closely at the gravely wounded patrolman, his breathing becoming more labored and shallow.

"Of your original companions, it was noted in our reports that you had finest control over your spiritual pressure. You will need it in order to bridge a circuit with my own. Place your hand against my soul seal, match your pressure to my own, and they should begin to resonate."

"Your soul seal?" Uryu stammered, watching her loosen the top of her white robe. "Isn't that directly between your..."

Nemu turned around and let the robe fall off her shoulders, exposing the smooth sweep of her back and the gentle curve of her spine. "It is between my shoulder blades, hurry Quincy, we do not have much time."

"Right, between your shoulder blades, of course," Uryu said, visibly relaxing. He watched her kneel next to the injured man, holding out her hands as she began to channel healing kido energy into a soft blue light that bathed the area around him. Uryu obediently knelt behind her, his fingertips rubbing together nervously as he moved up close. Placing his hand against her back, timidly at first, he immediately felt a thrumming of pure, powerful spirit energy beneath his palm.

"Now," Nemu said, an uncharacteristic sigh slipping into her voice as she settled against the warm hand on her bare skin, "Please adjust your own spirit energy to match mine in terms of rhythm, amplitude and frequency."

Saying was far easier than doing, Uryu found, for he remained distracted by the cacophonous bird calls outside, the man who lay dying on the cottage floor, and perhaps more embarrassingly, the fire-lit expanse of Nemu's naked back. Removing his glasses, he shut his eyes and concentrated only on the gentle thrumming of power he felt beneath his palm. He matched his breathing to hers, finding the rhythm and frequency of her spirit energy first, like a pattern woven deep through her heartbeat.

Shifting slightly on his knees, he knit his brows into a scowl Ichigo would've been proud of as he focused his own spiritual energy into a similar pattern. It was like sliding puzzle pieces around until they snapped into place. The sensation of their patterns aligning was like an electric shock through his mind, leaving his teeth buzzing and colored lights shifting behind his eyelids. He felt his head fall forward as the muscles across his shoulders and arms began to relax, letting his tightly contained spiritual pressure unwind to match the depth of her own. The buzzing in his teeth abated as he felt their spirit energy coalesce, lensing into a unified pattern and resonating with a pure, crystalline clarity.

"Excellently done, Uryu," Nemu whispered.

Uryu opened his eyes to find her closer than he remembered, the gentle curve of her back and shoulder where it met the loose white robe was somehow only inches away. Her head was tipped away, exposing the tender skin of her neck as she let the energy flow from the tips of her fingers. He could see her eyes had closed halfway, her lips parted gently as she let the energy surge through their shared connection.

Feeling as if she was standing in the middle of a rushing river, the sensation of his Quincy energy absorption ability flowing into her was almost overwhelming. The energy, hot and scintillating as it skimmed along her skin, quickened her heartbeat and made her head feel light. She dipped down into the current, letting more of his energy pour through her, and felt a sensation unlike anything she'd known before fluttering across her skin.

Warmth enveloped her body, caressing her with a feathery light touch at the surface but was so deep and rich she could almost taste it on her tongue. Never before had she felt such a pure, honest spiritual pressure. Too often confronted by the sharp metallic tang of her captain, the oily ooze of Hiyosu or the chalky blankness of Akon, she found herself eagerly enfolding such a sensation into her kido channel, welcoming the warmth and serenity as they spread through her.

It made her feel... happy.

He had no idea what base instinct made him do it, but when it appeared for a second that she might fall he quickly slipped his free hand around her waist to hold her securely against his chest. Her brilliant green eyes snapped open and for a moment Uryu thought he had over stepped his bounds. When she settled against him and redoubled her efforts on her healing kido spell, Uryu released a breath he didn't realize he was holding, feeling marginally better that their rather intimate position was acceptable, if slightly awkward.

"I have finished," she announced after a few minutes, letting the blue aura fade from around the man as she lowered her hands. She felt Uryu's hands retreat from around her and felt curiously regretful. "He is stable and is showing signs of recovery." The birds in the forest outside had drifted away, those few that remained called out shrill, reproachful cries as they departed, as though denied something rightfully theirs.

"That's good," Uryu said as he felt her ease herself away from him and straighten her clothing. His fingers safely tucked into his fists so as not to go wandering over Nemu again, he instead looked towards the patrolman, now sleeping deeply. "Do you suppose he'll have any useful information when he wakes up?"

Nemu looked over at him as she put her sword away and returned to her bedroll, drained and exhausted. "Because we have so little information on the phenomenon we are being sent to investigate, anything he knows would be useful." She paused, realizing her phrasing might appear insensitive. "I... I apologize, Uryu. What I meant to say-"

"No no," he motioned understandingly, "It's quite alright. It's been a long, stressful day... and night." He returned his glasses to the bridge of his nose and knelt down on his own bedroll. "We should try to rest while we can."

Nemu nodded and pulled the thin blanket over her, the dying fire and brittle walls of the cabin doing little to cut the chill of the night air. She stared at the ceiling, watching the subtle patterns of light and shadow play along the ceiling. The dancing shapes were far less sinister now, eddying swirls of light and shadow moving together, complementary but distinct. "Thank you for letting me lean against you."

"You're... quite welcome, Nemu," Uryu whispered back. He rubbed his eyes beneath his glasses and stuck one hand beneath his head as he laid back down. Sighing, and with his other hand on the hilt of his Seele blade he let his eyelids droop closed from weariness.

* * *

He was startled awake as a sudden, cold sense of crushing dread settled in the pit of his stomach. His eyes cracked back open to see the cabin lit by weak sunlight filtering in through the single window. Hours had apparently passed, it was early morning and the remnants of their fire in the hearth were nothing but cold black and gray ash. There was a stirring at his side and Nemu, having moved closer to him for warmth he assumed, push herself up on her elbow, the thin blanket sliding off her as she too looked around.

"I feel a presence at the barrier," Nemu said, blithely unaware of Uryu's mortified embarrassment at sleeping so close to one another. Instead, she immediately rose, wrapping her kimono about herself and tying her obi as she slipped her shoes on. Flicking her fingers, she quickly slid her sword from between the planes of reality and into the sash at her waist in a single motion. She picked up Uryu's coat from over the chair and handed it to him on her way towards the door.

Snapping his equipment belt into place, Uryu took the proffered garment and swept it around his shoulders. He watched Nemu pause at the door, catching something out of the corner of her eye that clouded her face with a rare look of confusion. Turning to look at what she had seen, he was immediately struck not by something odd, but by the distinct lack of something odd. Specifically, the injured patrolman.

"Where is...?" Uryu spun back as Nemu pulled open the rustic wooden door and slipped outside. The morning light was pale and gray through the mist seeping through the forest but it sparkled up from the dew that had collected upon the grass at their feet. He could see the patrolman at the gap in the low wall around the village, leaning heavily upon his staff and staring out into the trees.

The two of them approached cautiously, wary of unintentionally startling him. He was still wrapped in the blanket they had draped over him last night, holding it at his chest with his free hand and breathing out puffs of steam in the chill morning air.

"There is something out there," he said, not looking away from the forest. "It's like it's moving... behind the trees, too big to fit through them, but it does." He shifted slightly, hitching his hand on his staff.

"You should come back inside," Uryu mentioned, "In your condition, you're not strong enough to deal with a hollow on your own."

"My name is Kaisho," he said, turning to look at them from beneath his unkempt hair, haunted and unnerved. "Kaisho Anishin, and I don't think whatever is out there is a hollow."

* * *

Author's Note: Yes, that's an original character but don't worry, he's only there to move the plot along.


End file.
